


in the uncertain wavering dawn

by penscritch



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Dark Dragon - Freeform, F/M, Happy Ending, Happy Hungry Bunch - Freeform, Queen!Yona, post-canon hypothetical ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 11:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5373287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penscritch/pseuds/penscritch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Setting someone free shouldn’t be so hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	in the uncertain wavering dawn

**Author's Note:**

> I think someone’s already written a variation of the ‘Yona trying to release Hak’ theme, but it’s too good to pass up. You just know Yona’s happy weepy face is going to show up. XD

“I release you from your vow.”

Those words should not be so difficult to speak, but they are. She spent all night saying them over and over, trying to make sure that when she says them that she will be clear and her meaning understood. She is her father’s daughter – she was Princess Yona and now she is Queen. The Queen shouldn’t feel an ache crawling up her throat or drop tears at freeing a good friend from a task that has made him risk his life for her for years or who has borne all of his duties without a single complaint.

She should be better than that.

Yona cried all of her tears out last night so she can see that Hak’s eyes widen and his face freezes in that nearly expressionless way of his when he’s trying to process something he didn’t expect to hear. It makes the squirmy feeling in her stomach worse, like someone tied a rock to it and dropped in the sea. It feels like guilt; was she so terrible that he never expected this basic kindness from her?

Still, it only takes a moment before Hak gathers himself and asks, “Is that an order?”

“Yes,” she says, and ruthlessly kills her feelings.

He stares at her a heartbeat longer. Then a strange expression comes across his face, full of some emotion she can’t begin to parse – it’s so complex.

Hak yawns, stretches his arms up but by now she knows his answer.

“I guess I might as well head back and check up on Tae-Yeon and the others. See you, Yona.”

The casual use of her name strikes like an arrow. He’s used it before, hasn’t he? But then, she’s grown used to him calling her Princess in as many irritating iterations as he could manage. She should be glad she’s finally getting rid of that jerk.

His back is turned toward her now and he’s walking away. She clenches her fists in her robes.

That’s… good.

He’s gone.

She bites her lip and her face screws up.

But then, there are warm hands cupping her cheeks and a teasing voice.

“Hey, what are you blubbering about now?”

“Nothing!” she insists, but her hands are fisted tight in his clothes already even though she’s supposed to let him go. How is she ever going to let him go if he does something like this? It isn’t fair.

She still can’t see his face – her eyes had closed earlier but even with them open now she only sees a dark blur – but she feels his thumbs gently smoothing the tears away.

“It’s not nothing when you’re crying like this, idiot.” His forehead knocks against hers, and it’s all she can do not to wail.

“Go away!” she yells at him. She needs to set him free. Hak deserves more than a lifetime of servitude. It doesn’t matter what she wants.

“You can’t command me anymore,” he says, “so I won’t.”

“W-What?!”

He’s so close to her already and suddenly he’s even closer. His mouth is warm and she opens hers to him automatically, greedy for his touch. She never expected that her first kiss would taste like salt.

“H-Hak…”

“Why do you think I’ve been by your side all this time?” he asks.

“My father asked you to,” she says, confused.

“Well, that too,” he admits, “but mostly because I love you.”

She can’t stop the furious blush overtaking her face.

“Oh?” Hak drawls. “That’s an interesting reaction, Princess.”

“S-Shut up!”

There’s a feeling bubbling inside her chest and it’s so bright and warm that she feels her eyes spill over with tears she can’t stop.

“Hey, I’m not leaving. You can stop crying now,” Hak says, concerned.

Yona tries, she really does, but…

“I’m so happy,” she laughs.

She raises a hand to wipe her eyes on her sleeve and when she looks up, Hak’s gaze makes her catch her breath. He bends down.

Just when their lips are a centimeter from contact, he sighs and turns his head to kiss her ear instead. He’s still holding her tightly to him, and he raises his head to say, “You can come out now, Happy Hungry Bunch.”

Sheepishly, Yoon and the Dragons make their way from behind a pillar.

“When did you notice us?” Yoon asks, utterly shameless. Kija on the other hand is redder than a tomato and has his face averted to the side. Little Ao has paws over her eyes, copying her master.

“A while ago,” Hak says ambiguously.

It’s ruined by Jae-ha’s lascivious grin when he leans over to whisper not-so-conspiratorially, “Just now. I bet he got distracted by –“

Hak’s swift punch takes him out before he finishes.

“What a pervert,” Yoon says disapprovingly at a crumpled Jae-ha. His gaze is equally condemning as it sweeps over them. “You’re all idiots.”

It doesn’t hide the slight upward quirk to his mouth, though.

“We’re the Happy Hungry Bunch!” says Zeno happily.

“What does that have to do with anything?!” shrieks Yoon.

“Well, Zeno’s sure it means we’re idiots together since Hak isn’t leaving!”

“I, the genius pretty boy, am in no way an idiot!” Yoon huffs, propping his hands on his hips. They all know to look for the genuine warmth in his eyes rather than pay attention to his words, so they just grin at him until he turns as red as Kija.

From his position on the ground, Jae-ha mumbles incoherently.

“What was that, pervert?” Hak says, stomping him into the ground with a foot. Yona tugs gently at his sleeve, so he lets up on the violence a little. She looks so happy, smiling and wiping ineffectually at her face with a sleeve as she clings to him that he can’t resist any of request of hers, not that he was ever able to refuse her anything anyway.

Jae-ha manages to turn his head under Hak’s boot so his mouth’s free from the ground.

He’s smirking when he says, “When’s the wedding?”

Then Hak’s boot is grinding his head further into the ground and Yona’s blushing so furiously she has to hide her face in Hak’s chest. But she’s laughing and everyone’s smiling and it occurs to her that this might be the happy ending she didn’t know she was looking for.


End file.
